Grids and guides are a great way to maintain symmetry and keep everything evenly spaced. This is one of the keys to making a visually pleasing diagram and separating yourself from the rest.

Example 6-1

After sketching out my general diagram (TIP1), I can break it down to three concentric circles, and a fourth, smaller circle to represent a second “acquisition network”. I can make the lines a light red color so they stand out without overpowering the map. You can use your skills creating layers (TIP3) to assign the guide lines to their own layer. You can also lock the lines so that you can’t select or accidentally move them, or make them disappear completely.

Example 6-2

Once this is done, it is pretty easy to drop in routers, clouds, vendor logos, and information. I would suggest keeping the circles as they really keep it together while adding to visuals.

Example 6-3

Completed diagram with border.

Example 6-4

Here we will use the built in guides by placing your cursor over the rules on the side of your workspace (rulers enabled) and dragging it over your page. Use this in conjunction with rulers to easily lay out a custom grid of your general layout. You can assign this to a layer and lock or make the guides disappear without deleting them.

I want to create a 2 dimensional map with mostly right angles depicting a LAN architecture. I start by creating a custom grid using the built-in guides.

Example 6-5

I place the first switch icon on the page and duplicate it by holding (Shift+Ctrl+left mouse click) and dragging left, right, up, or down and populate the custom grid. Always make sure your icon is complete if customized, so you change it just once instead of changing each one. Once all of the details are added, I hide the entire layer of guides, and it’s all set.